November 19, 2012

Occupy Jail

Bomb-Making Chemicals, Assault Rifles Found in Doctor's Home, Prosecutor SaysLarge amounts of chemicals commonly used to make bombs were found in the basement of a New Jersey doctor, along with assault rifles and a stun gun, prosecutors said today.

Dr. Roberto Rivera, 60, who according to some reports was active in the Occupy Wall Street movement last year, was arrested following a Friday night raid on his Ridgewood, N.J., home.

A bit more:

Rivera faces six charges, including possession of a destructive device and recklessly creating a risk of widespread injury or damage. His bail was set at $1 million cash.

It was not yet clear whether Rivera has hired a lawyer.

Bill Dobbs, a member of the Occupy Wall Street press team, said he had no knowledge of any connection between Rivera and the movement, and said Occupy is firmly committed to non-violence.

�I�m glad that at last the youth of America is able to stand on two feet and take a position that millions of people around the world have taken that they will not be intimidated by the capitalist free-market paradigm and they will fight against gross inequality in distribution of income and assets,� Rivera told Bloomberg News in October 2011.

Rivera also told the Tribeca Trib that he was a volunteer medic who walked around Zuccotti providing medical aid to those in need.

[...]

Neighbors in Ridgewood said Rivera, who lives there with his girlfriend, had a combative personality and would cut people off while riding his bike around town.

'Bomb' Doc Was Fired From Hospital After Stalking AllegationA doctor charged Saturday with possessing a large quantity of chemicals used in bomb-making spent 15 years on the staff of a Manhattan hospital until he was fired in 2006 for refusing to submit to a psychiatric evaluation when a nurse accused him of stalking her, court records show.

Roberto Rivera, 60, was charged with recklessly creating a risk of widespread injury or damage after federal and local authorities found precursor chemicals used in the making of explosives in the basement of a Ridgewood house, Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli said in a release Saturday afternoon.

More:

Rivera joined the staff of St. Vincent's Medical Center in 1991 as an attending physician, and spent 15 years there before his employment was terminated over allegations that he stalked a nurse who worked with him in the Department of Community Medicine, court records show.

Rivera and the nurse, whose name Patch is withholding, had developed a "deep friendship," and the doctor took to extremes to stay in contact with her after she tried to end the relationship, such as following her home on a bicycle, the nurse alleged.

Rivera left his wife and rented an apartment in the same Brooklyn neighborhood in which the nurse lived, according to the court records. He would follow her to work and leave notes on her desk, she claimed.

The nurse filed harassment and stalking complaints against Rivera in May 2006, and Rivera was suspended and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He refused and was fired in July 2006.

Rivera sued the hospital. The suit was dismissed.

Neighbors interviewed Saturday and Sunday described Rivera as introverted. They said he lived in the building at 183 Union Street for about a year, and at least one recalled him carrying protest signs from the house.

The good Doctor needs to spend the next forty years behind bars...
Posted by DaveH at November 19, 2012 6:26 PM